Few events are noted during the reigns which succeeded. The following are the most worthy of mention. The Emperor Temmu (A.D. 673-686) added several new degrees of rank to those already established. He also favored the Buddhist religion by making its services obligatory, and by forbidding the eating of flesh. Silver was first discovered in Tsushima A.D. 674, which was followed twenty years later by the manufacture of the first silver money. Copper was discovered in Musashi in the reign of the Empress Gemmyō (A.D. 708-715) and the making of copper money came into vogue. Before that time the copper money in use was obtained from Korea and China. Gold coin is said to have been first issued under the Emperor Junnin (A.D. 759-765). An observatory was established for the inspection of the stars in connection with the new department of astrology. The cultivation of the lacquer tree and the mulberry and the raising of silk-worms were still further encouraged and extended. Cremation was first practised about A.D. 700 in the case of a Buddhist priest who left directions that his body should be burned. Since that time cremation has been employed for the disposal of the dead by the Shin (or Monto) sect, and is now authorized but not made obligatory by the government. The progress made by Buddhism is shown by the census of temples which was made in the reign of the Empress Jito (A.D. 690-702) and which gave the number as 545. The publication of the _Kojiki_ in A.D. 712, and of the _Nihongi_ eight years later, has already been referred to at the close of the preceding chapter. These works are still looked upon as the foundations of Japanese literature and the highest authorities of Japanese history. In the reign of the Empress Gemmyō (A.D. 710) the imperial residence was fixed at Nara. Up to this time the custom(100) derived from antiquity had prevailed of changing the residence on the accession of each new emperor. But the court continued at Nara for a period of seventy-five years running through seven reigns; and in consequence Nara has always been looked upon with peculiar reverence, and is the seat of several of the most notable Buddhist and Shintō temples(101) and structures. It is here that Kasuga-no-miya was founded in A.D. 767 and dedicated to the honor of the ancestor of the Fujiwara family. Here also is Tō-dai-ji a Buddhist temple famed for containing the bronze statue of Great Buddha. This colossal idol was constructed in A.D. 736 under the Emperor Shōmu, during the time that the imperial court resided at Nara. The height of the image is fifty-three feet, being seven feet higher than the Daibutsu at Kamakura. The temple was built over the image and in A.D. 1180 was destroyed by a fire which melted the head of the image. This was replaced. The temple was burned again A.D. 1567, from which time the image has remained as the Japanese say “a wet god.”